Beating the Tax

Friday, May 18, 2007 |
by Nicole Jansezian

When the Second Lebanon War broke out last summer, Christian relief organizations responded swiftly, amassing shipments of humanitarian aid for Israelis who were stuck in shelters for a month while many of their businesses and homes were damaged and destroyed. But such shipments are subject to a 15.5 percent value added tax (VAT) even though they are donations to the people of Israel.

So Messianic lawyer and chief counsel of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice Calev Myers stepped in to help relieve the relief organizations. He negotiated a one-time discount of $10,000 VAT charged to a $20 million shipment during the war. Then he went to work to make the change more permanent.

“This fortified my resolve to bring an end to this situation,” Myers said, noting that Christian and Messianic organizations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for the “right to bless the poor and needy in Israel.”

** The full article will appear in the June 2007 edition of Israel Today.SUBSCRIBE NOW!

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